An Interview with Gottfried Michael Koenig: By Norma Beecroft

Interviewed by Norma Beecroft as part of her ebook, Conversations With Post World War II Pioneers of Electronic Music.Recorded on audio cassette.Digital transfer and editing: William Van Ree

One of the outstanding composers attracted to the Electronic Music Studio of the Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR) in Cologne in the early 1950s was the young Gottfried Michael Koenig. While he disagreed with the philosophy of the founding composers of the Studio, he remained there for ten years producing his first major electronic composition, Klangfiguren II, followed by Essay one year later.

In 1964 he became the creative director of the Institute for Sonology in Utrecht, Holland, where he developed his own techniques for composing and generating sound via computer technology. His work in creating new musical programs continued until the Institute was moved to The Hague in 1986, when he retired to pursue his own directions further.